First lines: Biographies by Laurel A. Rockefeller

If you still use twitter, you may have noticed discussions among the writing community regarding how best to start your latest work in progress. Lots of theories prevail, but often the best way to get ideas on how to “break the ice” on a story is simply to read the opening lines of existing books.

For me, I tend to use two or three strategies, depending on the book. Most of my biographies employ Prologues as introductions. These are usually set after the death of the biography subject (the...